Sunny Sunday Bread and Soup

It got chilly and started raining last night. As it was supposed to continue into today, I thought soup would be a good thing. I had the turkey carcass in the ‘fridge so I pulled it out and into the pot it went with bay leaves, celery bottoms, a few carrots, onion, garlic (skins and all), and a bit of salt and pepper. I boiled it down for several hours, strained the broth, cooled it and into the ‘fridge it went. It was the perfect food to sit on the stove while I worked on a couple of websites. I love unattended cooking!

I had a big jar of navy beans on the shelf that had been up there probably since last fall, so I pulled ’em down and soaked half of them overnight. Bean soup sounded good.

Since the beans were a bit old, I soaked them for a good 12 hours before cooking them. It was a good thing – they definitely took their time to cook!

I cooked the beans separately, drained them, and reserved some of the cooking liquid.

I sauteed half an onion and 4 stalks of celery in a bit of olive oil. I added 1 link of andouille sausage and browned that a bit.

Into the pot went about a cup of white wine that I reduced down by half. Then the turkey broth. I added the drained beans, brought it all to a boil and then let it simmer for another hour or so.

I added some herbs d’Provence, salt and pepper, and then half a bag of frozen spinach – because it was there.

In the meantime, I made a loaf of beer bread.

Beer Bread is merely 3 cups of self-rising flour, 3 tbsp sugar, and a bottle of beer. Bake at 350° for an hour.

I had a small piece of gorgonzola in the ‘fridge, so I sliced it up into the batter before baking.

It was really good!

So… as I have soup on the stove and bread in the oven, the rain stops, the clouds clear, and it turns into a sunny, glorious day! Go figure.

So we opened the windows, enjoyed the cool breeze – and ate soup and fresh bread, anyway!